Staten Island Advance/Hilton FloresSister Ermelinda Cordasco, center, celebrates her 97th birthday and her 80th anniversary as a nun with Sister Lois Darold, left, superior at St. John Villa Academy, and Sister Mary Cecile Swanton, provincial superior. Sister Ermelinda is officially retired, but still works at Villa after decades of teaching there.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Sister Ermelinda Cordasco's religious service began in the 1930s and continues today -- as her 80th anniversary and 97th birthday were celebrated this past Saturday at St. John Villa Academy, Arrochar.

Sister Lois Darold, local superior at the academy, and Sister Mary Cecile Swanton, Provincial Superior, led the day of prayer for the American Province of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. John the Baptist. Sister Ermelinda, a member of that congregation, has the distinction of having taught at the academy in every decade that the school has been open.

"The people of St. John Villa Academy are special to me because they are my family," Sister Ermelinda said.

Even though Sister Ermelinda officially retired from the academy and teaching in 2001, she remains active in education and in her religious community. She tutors Spanish and Italian to students in a one-to-one basis and works in the convent main office.

"My students are like my children," the sister explained.

She spends her free time e-mailing friends, alumni and family members down to the great-great generation, crocheting hats for hospital newborns and reading.

"Sister Ermelinda is witty, sharp and amazing for her age," said Deb Caldwell, director of development and alumni relations at the academy.

After earning her bachelor of science degree in education and a master of arts degree from Fordham University, Sister Ermelinda gained her second master of arts degree in Spanish at Middlebury (Vt.) College.

She was born in Newark on March 24, 1914, and began her religious life on March 19, 1931, as a novitiate at the academy.

After professing her vows, Sister Ermelinda was assigned to teach first grade at the school, where she spent many years in both the elementary and high School departments until the early 1950s. In 1974, she returned to the academy, where she continued to teach in the high school until 2001.

During her break from the school, Sister Ermelinda pursued other forms of ministry and teaching. In 1958, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship; she lived and ministered in Chile 1958-1964. She then taught and served in administration in elementary schools in New York and New Jersey. From 1969 to 1972, she was an instructor at the former Alphonsus Junior College in Woodcliff Lake, N.J., where she served as a committee member for admissions and curriculum and was also a member of the Board of Trustees.